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These two great brands have been duking it out ever since Ferrucio Lamborghini‘s Ferrari 250s proved so fragile and crude he vowed to build a better car. Ever since the tractor-manufacturer started making Grand Touring cars, the companies — separated by only 20 miles or so — have been competitors, but today their personalities couldn’t be more different. Ferrari design and engineering is informed first and foremost by the scuderia’s motorsport heritage and experience, and its latest offering, the 458 Italia, bristles with Formula 1 tech, from its movable aero flaps to its switch-encrusted steering wheel. Lamborghini, by contrast, has focused primarily on road cars, endowing them with extreme performance and styling. Lamborghini’s response to the new Ferrari is a slightly more aggressive-looking Gallardo that’s been lightened significantly and fortified slightly to match the Ferrari’s output figures.

Like its 2007 predecessor, this Superleggera model derives most of its performance enhancement the Lotus way, by “adding lightness” — 158 pounds of it to be exact. Most of the savings came by replacing metal or heavier plastic parts with carbon-fiber ones, the most notable of which include the engine cover, rear wing, sill panels, rear diffuser, mirror housings, some underbody paneling, and the interior tunnel and door panels. In all, these panels account for 88 pounds of newfound lightness. (Lamborghini conducts composite-structures research in partnership with Boeing and the University of Washington at Seattle and claims its research is rapidly lowering the cost of parts like these to the point that they may soon be affordable on vehicles produced by the thousands or even tens of thousands.)

Feathery but car-wash-proof polycarbonate replaces all glass behind the B-pillars, including the huge engine viewport. Forged aluminum wheels attached by titanium bolts shave another 29 pounds — and that weight is unsprung rotational-inertia mass, so it earns triple dividends on the performance-enhancement ledger. Ascetic enthusiasts can save a few more pounds by deleting the radio, but air conditioning and power windows remain standard. Production will not be limited, and the sticker price of $242,695 represents a $34,700 premium over the base 560-4.

As the numerical nomenclature suggests, the familiar direct-injected 5.2-liter V-10 now makes 570 metric horsepower (562 SAE ponies-10 more than the base Gallardo produces) and routes it to all four wheels. That extra oomph is conjured via subtle tweaks to the spark, fuel injection, variable valve timing, and other engine-control strategies. At 398 pound-feet, peak torque matches that of the Ferrari 458 and both other Gallardos (LP 560-4 and LP 550-2).

Chassis tuning was inspired by experience gained in Lamborghini’s year-old Blancpain Super Trofeo single-marque racing series (Sant’Agata’s European equivalent to North America’s Ferrari Challenge series). The only completely new parts are stiffer front and rear anti-roll bars that serve to further flatten the car’s Nebraskan body-roll. Superleggera models are distinguished first by the large side stripe emblazoned with the name, but also by new lower fascias front and rear and aerodynamic side sills. The lower edges of the twin-trapezoidal front air intakes thrust farther forward, paying homage to the Reventon and are said to have been honed in the wind tunnel to increase front downforce. Similarly, the rear diffuser looks sculpted to provide more of a venturi effect, but no lift or drag coefficient figures have been released. The horizontal side-sill extensions look more likely to cut ankles than the wind, but they are eye-catching in polished carbon fiber.

So is Lamborghini’s rejoinder a match for the newest Ferrari? To find out, I traveled to the factory in hopes of driving the Superleggera over the exact same mountain roads on which I’d sampled the 458 Italia just a few months before, but as my plane touched down, an unseasonable mid-March snow storm parked over the Modena-Bologna region and dumped eight inches in about 36 hours. Even with all-wheel drive, the summer-tired Gallardo was grounded. The next day dawned dry, cloudy, and just warm enough to melt the roads, but not quite warm enough to soften up the summer tires to their most elastic and grippy state, so my limit-probing opportunities were curbed and any notion of grabbing preliminary performance numbers vanished.

Here’s what I can tell you: The thinner, lighter polycarbonate windows may admit a bit more of the V-10’s wail into the cabin and it’s welcome — this is easily the best sounding street-legal V-10 extant. Ride quality drops precipitously, and while the lighter wheels bounce in and out of ruts with a bit less fuss, there’s no matching the 458’s magnetically adjustable suspenders for comfort in between the hairpin corners. The accelerative force of the Gallardo’s electronically managed E-gear launch is impressive, but from that point on, this single-auto-clutch manual is losing time at each upshift, relative to the Ferrari’s seven-speed twin-clutch unit. So while it seems conceivable that a harder all-wheel launch might keep the LP 570-4 even with the Ferrari to 62 mph (both claim 3.4 seconds), I’d wager the Ferrari will pull ahead shortly thereafter (its weight-to-power ratio is also slightly better than the Lambo’s). Steering feel on both is exceptional, and each manages to deliver carbon ceramic brakes (standard on the 458, a $15,600 option on the 570-4) that apply as smoothly as steel ones when cold while delivering astonishing whoa in track conditions.

Bottom line: If forced to bet on which of these cars would scoot around a racetrack quickest with a pro shoe at the helm, I’d bet on the Ferrari’s lighter weight and more sophisticated suite of chassis electronics to trump the Lamborghini’s all-wheel traction. With mortal, rich fat-cats negotiating the post-blizzard byways of Emilia-Romagna, however, I’d sooner be holding the insurance paper on the Lamborghini. Stay tuned for a more definitive assessment of these two archrivals when we can get them both on familiar (dry) roads this summer.

2011 Lamborghini Gallardo News and Reviews

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